Abstract
BackgroundWork in dialysis facilities involves long term contact with chronically ill patients. International comparisons make it clear that dialysis work is being concentrated, staff is being reduced and more patients are being treated. It is more than 20 years since the last German publication on job strains and job satisfaction experienced by dialysis staff was published. The present study examines the stress and strain currently experienced by the staff of German dialysis facilities.MethodsThe staff of 20 dialysis facilities were surveyed with the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). The questionnaire was extended by adding dialysis-specific questions. The data from the dialysis facilities were assessed by comparison with other professions in medical care - nurses and geriatric nurses - using data recorded in the German COPSOQ database.ResultsA total of 367 employees took part in the study, corresponding to a response rate of 55%. For almost all psychosocial aspects, the dialysis staff regarded the stress and strain as being more critical than did the geriatric nurses. There were some positive differences in comparison to hospital nursing, including less conflict between work and private life. However, there were also negative differences, such as fewer possibilities of influencing the work.ConclusionsThe results of the study show that dialysis work exhibits both positive and negative aspects in comparison with other healthcare professions. The results in the different facilities were highly variable, indicating that the deficits found in the individual scales are not inevitable consequences of working in dialysis in general, but are influenced and might be favourably altered by the individual facilities.
Highlights
Work in dialysis facilities involves long term contact with chronically ill patients
There have been numerous studies on the psychological stress and strain to which nurses and geriatric nurses are exposed [11,12,13,14], but little work has been done on the staff in dialysis facilities [15]
With the exception of social relations, no statistically significant difference in the scales and variables of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) was observed between the two groups with high or low response rates
Summary
Work in dialysis facilities involves long term contact with chronically ill patients. Work in dialysis facilities is marked by intensive and longterm contact with chronically ill patients [1,2], who are frequently frustrated or depressive [3]. A systematic review on stress and strain in employees in dialysis facilities [16] reported heterogeneous study results on stress, working conditions, strain and burnout. The data in the review indicate that the level of burnout is moderate for dialysis employees compared with different groups. In the study by Klersy et al, burnout is moderate for dialysis employees (nurses and physicians) compared to healthcare workers and the general population in Italy [19]. The burnout level was slightly higher for the dialysis staff than in the reference groups
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